Della Lucinda Hedges' Obituary
Della “Dolly” Lucinda Hedges (nee Nave) passed away at the age of 79 on Sunday, November 19th at her home in Annapolis after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Della was born in Woodbury, Pennsylvania on December 29th, 1937 to the late H. LaRue (nee Mock) and Earnest E. Nave. She graduated from Woodbury High School in 1955, and after a brief stay in Pittsburgh where she attended college, moved back to Woodbury and married her first husband, Martin Dale Gates, in 1957. They moved to Mayo, Maryland in 1961 when Martin was offered a teaching job at Southern High School. They then lived in Galesville, before settling in Annapolis in 1963, where they raised their family.
Della worked at the Britts and Woodward & Lothrop department stores in Parole Plaza before attending Fleet Business School. She worked for ECAC at the Naval Station in Annapolis before going to work at Montgomery Ward as a jewelry department manager, where she met her second husband, Evans Hedges. After their marriage in 1978, they lived aboard their houseboat in Edgewater, and Della worked as General Manager of Weems & Plath in Eastport. They uprooted and moved their houseboat down to Florida in 1982, and soon settled in Seminole. They then operated the John’s Pass Bait and Charter Center in Treasure Island. Della also worked for several banks and credit unions as a Compliance Officer in Florida before moving back to Annapolis where she worked for BB&T Wealth Management until her retirement in 2011.
Della is survived by three daughters, Marta (Gates) Jones and Melanie (Gates) Hundley (and husband Donald, Sr.) of Annapolis, and Marea (Gates) Singer (and husband Stephen) of Winter Haven, Florida. She also leaves behind grandchildren Amy Orange, Lucinda “Cindi” Asquith, Megan Orange, Jacqueline “Jackie” Orange, Andrea “Andi” (Orange) Sidur, Sara Duley, and Donald “D.J.” Hundley, Jr., also 11 beloved great-granddaughters, her sister Nell (Wright) Furry, and her brothers Ernest Nave and Wayne Wright, and her dear cousin Ruth (Mock) Brown, as well as many nieces and nephews.
Della was preceded in death by her granddaughter Jennifer Asquith-Scott, her sister Mary Ann Wright, and brothers James O. Wright and John Wright.
All services for Della will be private.
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